Cell door operating and locking system



y 1942- F. A. MONTGOMERY l- AL 2,390,062

CELL DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING SYSTEM Filed Nov. 20', 1940 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 July- 14, 1942.

v F. A. MONTGOMERY ETAL CELL DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING SYSTEM Filed Nov. 20, I940 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 July 14, 1942.

F. A. MONTGOMERY any. 2, 90,062

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CELL noon OPERATING AND LOCKING SYSTEM Filed Nov. 20, 1940 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 F" I I L 1 X? 1 59 I "u I 55 F11 74 I I v. I

" 4 7 fllllll A Jvwamm i 12 76 7 2.5 67 Y J Z7 0114 orzy )[fl Garer Patented July 14, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CELL DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING SYSTEM corporation of Ohio Application November 20, 1940, Serial No. 366,478

12 Claims.

This invention relates to door locking and operating mechanism for jails and other institutions and, among other objects, aims to provide a greatly improved system wherein a plurality or series or gang of sliding cell doors are arranged to be operated, to either or both unlocked and open and closed and locked relation, either individually and manually or collectively by a single actuating means. The main object is to provide improved auxiliary locking means both for locking the cell doors in their closed position and their opened position, said auxiliary locks coacting with the respective door hangers. Another object is to provide a novel combination of auxiliary locks and combination spring bumper and door starters so constructed and arranged that when the doors are unlocked by the usual looking members, the bumpers will hold the locking members in their unlocked positions and the parts will remain in such position until the doors are again closed, when the auxiliary locks will be automatically tripped and the doors will be again locked. Still another purpose is to provide in a system of this type novel latch members which serve to connect the door hangers to a pull bar and also to lock the doors in their opened position. A still further object is to provide resiliently mounted latch bolts on the door hangers to permit any jammed door to be disengaged from the operating mechanism and also having associated means to hold the doors rigidly with respect to the hangers when the doors are locked open, said resilient mounting permitting pull bar actuation of all the doors fully to close them even when the pull bar has expanded or contracted or the parts have become worn. Also, an important aim is to provide for over-travel of the doors when they are opened by pull bar actuation to permit them to kick back slightly toward closed position and there be locked open and, at the same time, be free for manual and individual closing.

With the above and other objects in view, some of which will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and others of which are inherent in the construction and association and use of the parts, this invention includes certain novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts which will be hereinafter set forth in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary view partly in elevation and partly in section, showing one embodiment of this invention applied to a single sliding door with the door in closed and locked position;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary View similar to Fig.1 on an enlarged scale showing the door partially opened;

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the door locked in open position;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational view, partly in section, showing details of the mechanism for locking the door opened;

. Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 66 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 5 showing the parts in another position;

Fig. 8 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of Fig.7;

Fig. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational view similar to Fig. 5 showing details of the mechanism for locking the door closed;

Fig. 10 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line l0l0 of Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary detail view showing parts as illustrated in Fig. 9 in another position; and

Fig. 12 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line l2--l2 of Fig. 11.

The adaptation of the present invention illustrated in the drawings is suitable for embodiment in a system and for use with a longitudinal row of cells each having a sliding door 20, only one such door and means for actuating it being here shown for convenience of illustration. This door can be mounted in the same manner as is disclosed for example in the patent to Garber 1,908,234, having a hanger 2| carried by rollers 22 in a track box 23 above the row of doors. The rollers are guided on a track 24 shown as being secured to the back wall of the track box. In this instance, the doors are adapted to be 011-- erated either manually or selectively and collectively by means of a pull rod 25 extending substantially the full length of the track box and connected at one end to a screw extension 26 adapted to be operated by a screw threaded sleeve or nut member 21 which projects into a cover box or housing 28 at the end of the group of cells. The sleeve is shown as being journaled in a bearing 29 at the back of the cover box 28 and it is operated by a sprocket chain 3!] connected through gears 3| and 32 to a hand crank 33 in much the same manner as is disclosed in the aforesaid Garber patent.

Each hanger 2| is shown as carrying a resiliently mounted latch bolt 34 slidably mounted in a U-shaped guide 35 which, in turn, is pivoted at to the hanger, the upper end of the guide bracket having an extension coil spring 3! connected normally to hold it in its vertical or upright position with the lower left hand edge, viewed in Fig. '7, engaging the pin 38. The latch bolt is adapted to engage an ordinary gap nut 39 on the pull bar 25 having a notch or gap 40 between upstanding cam projections 4| and 42, the forward projection 4! being lower than the rear projection. The upper end of the latch bolt is bifurcated, as clearly shown in Fig. 6, and carries a roller 43 which rides on a latch bolt bar 44 shaped at its forward end to provide a lifting cam surface 45 designed to raise the latch bolt to an intermediate position, as shown in Fig. 1.

The ends of the latch bolt bar are pivoted to crank arms 46 and 45a, the forward arm 46 being a part of the bell crank 41 having a pin and slot connection to a pull rod 48 connected. to be actuated by a selector knife blade or lever 49 pivoted in the housing 22. Herein, the knife blade carries a flexible pull element 50 trained over sheaves 5| and connected by a rod 52 to a bell crank lever 53 through a link 54 to a compound bell crank lever 55, one arm of which is pivotally connected to the forward end of the pull rod 43.

The two bell cranks 53 and 55, as perhaps best illustrated in Figs. 9 and 10, are shown as being pivoted on opposite sides of a strap metal bracket 56 secured to the back wall of the track box and extending downwardly through a pilaster 51. The pull elements leading from the housing 28 to the successive bell cranks 53 for the different doors are arranged at different heights in vertical formation behind the brackets 55. For this purpose, each bracket 55 is provided with a series of openings or perforations 58 to receive the pivot bolts or pins 59 of the respective bell cranks 53. It will be understood, however, that each compound bell crank 55, one for each door, is arranged at the same height as that shown in Fig. 9. Thus, in any installation, regardless of the number of cells, the mechanism will be substantially standardized except for the length of the links 54 connecting the bell cranks.

The compound bell crank 55 has a third arm 60 which is pivotally connected to the upper end of a vertically movable locking bar 6| extending downwardly through the pilaster 5! and carrying the usual spring-urged bolt 62 at its lower end coacting with a notched tongue 63 on the door 26. The arrangement is such that when the knife blade lever 49 is pulled downwardly, it will impart clockwise movement to the bell crank 55 to raise the locking bar 6| and consequently bolt 62 and unlock the door, at the same time raising the latch bolt bar 44 and thus lifting the latch bolt 34 clear of the notch 40 in the gap nut 39. When this happens, the door is free to be opened. However, the locking bar 6| also actuates an auxiliary hanger lock in the form of a pivoted hook 64 having a bill 65 adapted to engage a laterally extending pin 66 on the hanger, as best disclosed in Figs. 1 and 9 in which the door is shown as being locked closed. The locking bar 6! has laterally extending fingers or plates 67 and 68, the upper one of which 68 has an angular notch 69 and presents two shoulders 10 and H. The shoulder 16 and the finger 61 straddle the hook 64 so that, when the locking bar 6| is raised, the hook will also be raised or swung up by the lower finger 61. The back face of the hook adjacent to the locking bar 6| is shown as having a locking pad 12 with a vertical face adjacent to the finger 68 so that its edge will bind or strike against the rear face of the finger 68 if any attempt is made to raise the hook without operating the locking bolt 6|. When the locking bar is raised slightly, the pad 12 is free to swing clockwise to permit the hook to be disengaged from the pin 66 on the hanger 2 I, In this position, the door is unlocked and, as hereinbefore explained, ready to be opened manually.

In this example, each door is adapted to be initially kicked open by a pivoted spring bumper or starter 13 having a finger l4 engaging the front of the pin 66 when the door is locked closed. Starter 13 is pivoted to be swung counterclockwise by a coil spring 15 (Figs. 9 and 12) and is stopped in substantially a vertical position as shown in Fig. 11 by a toe 16 which is shown as engaging the bottom of the track box. When the bumper or starter reaches this position, the upper end of its finger [4 lies directly in the downward swinging path of the bill 65 on the hook 64. The attendant or operator then releases the knife blade lever 49 and the spring of the locking bolt 62 pulls the locking bar 6! to the position shown in Fig. 2 with the bill 65 of the hook supported on the finger 14 of the bumper as shown in Figs. 2 and 11. In this position, the lower shoulder H of the upper finger 68 rests on the upper edge of the pad 12 on the hook, and holds the locking bolt in the raised position shown in Fig. 2. Also, the knife blade lever is automatically moved to the intermediate position shown in full lines in Fig. 2 so that the lever indicates the unlocked and partially opened condition of the corresponding door.

All of the foregoing operations take place while the gap nut is in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2. It will be noted that, when the knife blade or lever 49 was released, the latch bolt bar 44 was also lowered to its lowest position by virtue of the pin and slot connection of th bell crank arm 41. As the door was kicked open, the latch bolt 34 moved beyond or to the left of the notch in the gap nut and the roller 43 on the latch bolt rolled down and beyond the cam surface 45 of the latch bolt bar. The latch bolt thus has dropped approximately to the level of the bottom of the notch 40 and, if the doors are to be mechanically opened, the bottom of the bolt may rise up on the upper face of the cam projection 42 and drop into the notch again when the gap nut is moved to the left. Thus, all gap nuts may be actuated to pick up all kicked open doors to carry them to their fully opened position or return them to closed position. It is only necessary to turn the crank 33 to move the pull bar to the left so that all of the freed latch bolts will fall into the corresponding or correlated gap nut notches.

Assuming that all of the unlocked doors are mechanically opened, continued movement of the pull bar to the left will move the doors slightly beyond their locked open position as best shown in Fig. 7. Each door hanger strikes a rear spring bumper or door starter 17, moving the starter to a position to exert force to kick the door toward closed position. The latch bolt 34 remains in the notch 40 of the gap nut. If it is desired to leave all selected opened doors in this position without operating other doors mechanically, the latch bolts and the gap nuts can remain in this engaged position and serve as locks for the doors. However, it is desirable to release the latch bolts from the gap nuts so that selected-doors may be either opened or closed mechanically. To that end, each of the latch bolts cooperates with separate locking means in the upper portion of the track box. This locking means includes a pair of pivoted locking detents l8 and 19 which are shown as overlapping each other and presenting notches 80 and 8| adapted to engage on opposite sides of a laterally extending locking roller 82 on the back side of the latch bolt, when the latch bolt is raised and moved slightly to the right toward closed position into registry with the notches. When both detents engage the locking roller, the locking detent l8 prevents the locking bolt and the connected hanger from moving toward door closing position; while the detent I9 prevents opposite movement. The detent 18 has a forward extension 83 which is shown in Fig. as being normally engaged with a stop pin 84 and the detent l9 likewise engages the stop pin 85, thus supporting both detents in proper position to be engaged by the roller 82. The detent 18 also has an elongated finger 86 to ride on the locking roller 82 during the over-travel of the door hanger and the upper edge of this finger is adapted to strike a lateral pin 81 on the detent 79 which acts as a stop to raise both detents together if the door is opened manually with the latch bolt in raised position.

As soon as the doors have reached the overtraveled position corresponding with that shown in Fig. '7, the knife blade levers 49 are lowered to raise the latch bolts to their uppermost positions, free from the notches in the gap nuts, as best shown in Fig. 3. When the latch bolts reach an intermediate raised position to clear the projections 4! of the gap nuts, as shown in Fig. 7, the door hangers are free to be kicked toward closed position by the starter l1 and continued lifting movement of the latch bolts will cause their locking rollers 82 to engage in the laterally aligned notches 8B and 8| of the two detents l8 and 19. Thus, each opened door is kicked to the right to its locked open position and the starters 11 still remain slightly tensioned or sprung to kick the doors toward closed position when they are again unlocked.

Since each of the guide brackets carrying the latch bolts is resiliently mounted to permit any jammed door to be disengaged from its operative connection with its gap nut during the closing movement, it is necessary to hold the guide bracket substantially fixed rigid with respect to its hanger when the door is locked open. Otherwise, a prisoner could force the door toward closed position and unlock it. To prevent this, each of the hangers carries a pivoted hook member 88 having a lateral lip or extension 89 overlying a similar extension 90 at the bottom portion of the latch bolt 31 so that the bill of the hook will be raised by the latch bolt and will engage the right hand bottom edge of the bracket 35, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. Since the lower rear edge of the bracket engages the stop pin 38, this bracket and consequently the latch bolt 34 carried thereby cannot be swung in either direction relative to the hanger until the hook is again lowered by lowering the latch bolt.

To hold the latch bolts in their uppermost or raised positions, as shown in Fig. 3, it is necessary to hold down or lock the knife blade levers in their lowermost positions, as shown in dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2. Any suitable latch means in the control housing, such as ordinary latch hooks 9i, can be used for this purpose. These latch hooks 9| disposed inside of the housing may be operated by buttons 92 to engage and latch upon the upper edges of the levers and to be disengaged or unlatched therefrom.

When all open doors are locked open and the latch bolts are free of the gap nuts, the pull bar is operated to move the gap nuts to the right or in front of the latch bolts Where they may remain until the locked open doors are unlocked and kicked and started toward closed position. This permits the latch bolts, when released, to drop freely to their lowermost positions without striking the gap nuts. It is to be understood that the gap nuts may be returned to their door closing positions and left inactive so that all doors may be operated manually. Obviously, the gap nuts and associated parts may be used to pick up and open other doors.

To release the latch bolts and thus unlock the locked-open doors, it is only necessary to release the respective knife blades, thus permitting the springs of the lock-bolts 62 to pull down the lockbars and thereby lower the latch bolt bars 44. This permits the latch bolts to fall so that the rollers 82 clear the locking detents 78. Then, the spring bumpers 11 will kick the doors toward closed position (see Fig. 5). When this happens, the released door can be closed either manually or mechanically. When the doors reach their closed position, the spring bumpers M are tripped or sprung to the right by the pins 66 and the bills of the hooks 65 will drop into locking engagement with the pins. At the same time, the locking bars 6| are released so that the locking bolts 62 engage the notched tongues 63 of the doors and the knife blades are automatically raised to their uppermost positions, as indicated by full lines in Fig. 1. This position of the knife blades indicates that the respective doors are locked closed.

If the doors are to be closed mechanically after they are initially kicked or started toward their closed positions, it is only necessary to operate the crank 33 to move the pull bar to the left and bring the gap nuts into registry with the latch bolts, which latch bolts through camming force on their lower ends, will rise over the cam projections 42 and fall into the notches 48. When all of the doors are thus picked up by their respective gap nuts, the pull bar is operated to close and lock the doors, as previously described.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that we have provided door locking and operating mechanism particularly suitable and adaptable for use in jails, prisons, asylums and other institutional installations, which mechanism is simple in its construction and dependable in operation; and that all of the doors, or selected doors, can be operated either manually or mechanically. Moreover, each door is automatically locked in closed position and the auxiliary locks for the carriage cannot be unlocked until the knife blades are operated by the keeper. The same mechanism for unlocking the doors also serves to lock them in open position. The springs for the main locks also operate the knife blades so that they indicate that the doors are locked closed. When the doors are actuated mechanically the operating mechanism serves to prevent them from being actuated by the prisoners. If any door becomes jammed, it is automatically released from the gap nut to permit the rest of the doors to be closed. The mechanism is standardized for locking systems embodying any number of doors up to the maximum.

Obviously, the present invention is not restricted to the particular embodiment thereof herein shown and described. Moreover, it is not indispensable that all the features of the invention be used conjointly, since they may be employed advantageously in various combinations and subcombinations.

What is claimed is:

1. In a master operating and locking system for jails and the like having a plurality of sliding doors and stationary structure associated therewith, main locking bars for each of the 1 doors, auxiliary locks carried by the stationary structure coacting with the door hangers and connected to be unlocked by the main locking bars, latch members carried by the door hangers, locking means carried by the stationary structure coacting with the latch members to lock the doors in open position, operating levers connected to actuate the locks and latch members of each door, and a pull bar coacting with the latch members both to open and to close the doors.

2. In a master operating and locking system for jails and the like having a plurality of sliding doors and stationary structure associated therewith, main locking bars for each of the doors, auxiliary locks carried by the stationary structure coacting with the door hangers and connected to be unlocked by the main locking bars, latch members carried by the door hangers, looking means carried by the stationary structure coacting with the latch members to lock the doors in open position, operating levers connected to actuate the locks and latch members of each door, a spring-urged starter coacting with each door to push it toward open position when it is unlocked and engaging the auxiliary lock to hold it in unlocked position until the door is again closed, and a pull bar coacting with each of the latch members to open and close the doors.

3. In a master operating and locking mechanism for jails and other systems having a plurality of sliding doors and stationary structure associated therewith, a locking bar for each door, an auxiliary lock carried by the stationary struc ture coacting with the door hanger and connected to be operated by the locking bar, looking means on the stationary structure, a latch bar carried by each door hanger and connected to engage the locking means to lock the door in open position, an operating lever connected to the locks and to the latch bar of each door, a 1

spring urged door starter connected to push each door toward open position when it is unlocked and coacting with the locking bar to hold it in its unlocked position, and a pull bar coacting with the latch bars of the doors to operate them at will.

4. In a master operating and locking system for jails and other installations having a plurality of sliding doors, a mechanism including a main vertical locking bar for each door, an auxiliary hook shaped locking member coacting with the hanger of each door and connected to be operated simultaneously with the locking bar, a plunger latch member carried by each door hanger, pivoted locking detents above the door carriage coact with the plunger latch to lock the door open, a lever connected to operate the locking bar and plunger latch for each door, a pull bar carrying a series of gap nuts, one for each door, adapted to be engaged by the respective plunger latches, and means on the plunger latches to hold them in their door locking positions and out of engagement with the respective gap nuts so that the pull bar is free to operate other doors, said mechanism constructed to permit over-travel of the door beyond its normal open position by its operating gap nuts, whereby the latch member may be disengaged from the gap nut in said over-traveled position and thereafter moved slightly out of registry with the gap nut toward door closing position and into its locked open position where it is engaged by said detents.

5. In a master operating and locking system for jails and other installations having a plurality of sliding doors, a vertical locking bar for each door, an auxiliary hook shaped locking member coacting with the hanger of each door, a door starter adapted to push each door toward its open position and coacting with the vertical locking bar to hold it in its unlocked position when the door is unlocked, a pivoted bracket on each door hanger, a spring connected to the bracket, a vertical latch bolt mounted in the spring urged bracket, locking detents above the door carriage coacting with the latch bolt, a single lever for each door connected to actuate both of its locking members and said latch bolt, and a pull bar having a gap nut for each door adapted to be engaged by the latch bolt, said spring biased bracket permitting the engaged latch bolt to be disengaged when the door is jammed during its closing movement.

6. In combination with a sliding door movable to opened and to closed positions, door operating means, a pivoted bracket on the door, a vertical latch bolt mounted in said bracket connecting and disconnecting the door and said operating means, detent means engageable with said latch means when said door is in an opened position and said latch means is disconnected, and spring means connected to said bracket permitting the latch bolt to be disengaged when the door is jammed during its closing movement.

7. In a master operating and locking system for jails and other installations having a plurality of sliding doors, a vertical locking bar for each door, an auxiliary hook shaped locking member coacting with the hanger of each door, a door starter adapted to push each door toward its open position and coacting with the vertical locking bar to hold it in its unlocked position when the door is unlocked, a pull bar having a gap nut for each door, a pivoted bracket on each door hanger, fixed stop means abutting said bracket to prevent movement of the bracket in one direction; a spring connected normally to hold said bracket against said stop means, a vertical latch bolt mounted in the bracket for connecting and disconnecting the door and its gap nut, separate locking means coacting with the latch bolt to lock the door when in open position, and the latch bolt is disconnected from the gap nut; pivoted latch means on the hanger connected to hold the bracket immovable when the door is locked open by said separate locking means, a single lever for each door connected to actuate both of its locking members and said latch bolt, said spring biased bracket permitting the engaged latch bolt to be disengaged when the door is jammed during its closing movement.

8. In a master operating and locking system for jails and other installations having a plurality of sliding doors, a mechanism including a main locking member and an auxiliary lock connected to lock each door in closed position, a latch member carried by each door hanger, detent means connected to engage the latch member to lock the door in open position, a lever connected to operate the locks and the latch member of each door, a starter for pushing each unlocked door toward open position and coacting with the auxiliary lock to hold it and the main lock in its unlocked position until the door is again closed, and a pull bar having gap nuts adapted to engage each latch member to open and to close the doors, said mechanism constructed to permit over-travel of the door beyond its normal open position by its operating gap nut whereby the latch member may be disengaged from the gap nut in said over-traveled position and thereafter moved slightly out of registry with the gap nut toward door closing position and into its locked open position where it is engaged by said detents.

9. In a master operating and locking system for jails and other installations having a plurality of sliding doors, a mechanism including a main lock for locking each door in closed position, an auxiliary lock coacting with each door hanger and connected to be operated simultaneously with the main look, a door starter for pushing each door toward open position and connected to engage the auxiliary lock and hold it and the main lock in its unlocked position until the door is again closed, a plunger latch member carried by each door hanger, detent means coacting with the plunger latch to lock the door in open position, a lever operatively connected to the locks and to said plunger latch, a pull bar having gap nuts coacting with each plunger latch, and means on the plunger latch to hold it out of engagement with its gap nut when the door is locked open, whereby the pull bar may be employed to operate other doors, said mechanism constructed to permit over-travel of the door beyond its normal open position by its operating gap nut, whereby the latch member may be disengaged from the gap nut in said over-traveled position and thereafter moved slightly out of registry with the gap nut toward door closing position and into its locked open position where it is engaged by said detents.

10. In combination with a sliding door movable to open and closed positions, door operating means, latch means connecting and disconnecting the door and said operating means, detent means engageable with said latch means when said door is in its normal open position and said latch means is disconnected from the operating means, and a spring urged starter engaged by said door on over-travel beyond the normal open position to return the door to its normal open position after the latch means is disconnected, in which normal open position, the detent means engages the latch means to lock the door open and said door starter means is held set to initiate movement of the door toward the closed position when the detent means is released.

11. In combination with a sliding door movable to open and to closed positions, a mechanism including mechanically operated door opening and closing means, latch means by which said door is connected to and disconnected from said operating means, and swingable detent means engageable with said latch means when the door is in its normal open position and disconnected from said operating means serving to lock the door in such open position, said mechanism constructed to permit over-travel of the door beyond its normal open position by the operating means, whereby the latch means may be disengaged from the operating means in said over-traveled position and thereafter moved slightly toward door closing position and into its locking engagement with said detents.

12. In combination with a sliding door movable to opened and to closed positions, a mechanism including mechanically operated door opening and closing means, latch means by which said door is connected to and disconnected from said operating means, swingable detent means engageable with said latch means when the door is in its normal opened position and disconnected from said operating means serving to lock the door in such open position, and manually operable means to actuate said latch means to the connected and disconnected positions and serving to move the latch means to release it from the detent means when said latch means is connected with the means for mechanically closing the door, said mechanism constructed to permit over-travel of the door beyond its normal open position by the operating means, whereby the latch means may be disengaged from the operating means in said over-traveled position and thereafter moved slightly toward door closing position and into its locking engagement with said detents.

FREDERICK A. MONTGOMERY. JAMES T. VAN DORN. HARRY D. GARBER. 

